I keep seeing these things on the NFL network during my downtime (which is constantly) and they talk about like "best left handed QB's of all time". They are interesting and they do certainly fill programming time. But I got to thinking... it might be a fun exercise to rank the Seahawks. Now... there are different ways you rank people. You rank them either on potential, such as, "If I were to start an NFL team right now, which player off of the Seahawks would I draft first if all players were available in an expansion draft?" This is of course because you'd want to go with a young player to build around (like if it were 2002 and you had the chance to take Walter Jones... you know he'd be first on a whole lot of lists around the league, because you're building around the best left tackle in league history who is in his prime). However, this player may not be the best player on the team as far as stats, fantasy points, contract value, and on and on (maybe in 2002 Hutch would have been a better "value" because he wasn't making much.... who knows?).

I can remember a discussion about the NBA and the Sonics were highly involved due to their depth back in the mid-90's. Most GM's said they'd take Gary Payton with the first pick (I believe this draft excluded Michael Jordan and was based on building an expansion team) in a heartbeat, because he is a player you build a great team around due to his defense, offense, leadership abilities, ability to score, to pass, and the fact that all five starters were averaging double digits because of his amazing ball distribution and balance he maintained on the court. The question then was why not draft Kemp and a lot of GM's said the guy was a bit of a malcontent (which turned out to be true), but was clearly the most physically gifted guy on the team, and perhaps even the league as that year he had pretty much had his way with Karl Malone, which had never been seen to that point, but.... if you have Payton, then he can make any of a lot of big men look like great players and would lead them to greatness just as they felt Payton was so instrumental in making Kemp as Stockton was in making Malone into what he was.

So, to bring this back to football now... I'd prefer if you just ranked them from the best player on down. Don't consider it a draft, don't go off of fantasy points they would get for you (I hate fantasy points!!!!), just grab the player you'd go get if you had a team today or had to keep a Seahawks player for next week's game. Doesn't have to be an expansion team or anything else. Just pick your top 10 players in order of greatness as of this moment on the team. I'd like to see how people's lists differ.

After we get a few, we'll compile a Hawks top ten. You can feel free to make a list 53 players long if you want, but at some point the difference between 2 players is really very slim (example... Frank Omiyale and Sweezy... they are pretty much a draw).

I'd love to see your lists, so type 'em up. Remember, don't take anything into account but what they are capable of right now and what they can do like say this week for your team or the Seahawks. Not fantasy points, not "value", not contract status, just pure playing ability. Ready... go!

This is a tough list, because I can think of several others that I would have thought would be in that list. There are so many players on our team that aren't just fan favs, but they are so functional. For instance, I tried to think what our offense would look like without Golden Tate. I remember hearing Pete say early in the year something to the effect that Tate makes this offense completely different. He's so much better on the screens and yards after the catch than our other receivers. Yet, Rice is money when he is healthy. Man, I love this team. I think Earl is one of those guys this year, that if he wasn't our out team, our D might start to fall a part. Same with Kam. How did Browner not make my list? Wow! I just was impressed by how WTIII played and it makes me think Browner can be replaced (though I would rather have him). Big Red, The TE's, we have a lot of talent right now...

Very interesting responses so far. Once we get a few more in I'll start ranking them as an overall. I guess give a total average position on the list for each player and see where the fanbase sees players as ranking. I realized we could start messing with offense and defense and such too, but it does make it way harder when you have no way to differentiate and just have to pick your top 10. I think it takes a lot of thought. Thanks guys for chipping in so far!

Great explanation on your process Starman44. It is a lot harder than you think at first glance. I figured I'd hold off until there was quite a list going. I also know that at some point the names already on the list will start to influence the remainder of those who post a list. This mentality is pretty common in voting for power rankings and the college polls. It isn't because people aren't trying... they just get to the point where they feel like others understand and have a good idea of who belongs where and kind of follow along with the whole groupthink thing.

Well I made this list that started with 10 and then I kept slotting people in and ended up just going for a round 20 and then I realized you didn't mean who you'd take to build a team around, you meant best player now/take.

Anyway you guys want to build the list is fine. Use any criteria you want. It's all just going to be compiled into data and I'll come up with a ranking after we get say 25 responses? Then I'll plug in any new rankings in my spreadsheet and change them. Maybe we'll do a list of rankings prior to this Sunday's game and then again at mid-week after guys have a chance to make a new list or more people add to the list and see if guys trend up or down significantly based on one game's performance.

I miss doing this stuff with test scores for the school district, so now I'll just use my spreadsheet skills for ranking football players. Haha. It's more fun than charting reading scores for 800 kids for six straight years.

OK, I'm kidding with that list.....but not entirely. The importance of the QB position in the NFL of the 2nd decade of the 21st Century cannot be overstated IMO. I simply do not see anymore Trent Dilfer types winng a SB with the way the game is now. Russ is the shit and he will not rest until he's compiled a HOF career and won more than one SB.

With all that said, here's a more reasonable list (strength up the middle anyone?)

Looking good guys. Hopefully we get a couple of more lists in and I'll compile them tomorrow so the overall rankings are ready prior to gametime on Sunday in Toronto. Now... let me clarify one thing. Anybody that does this should NOT go back after the game and re-rank their original post. Just do a new post entirely. Also, those of you who don't do one before game time, just do your first one after the game against Buffalo (or during it, either way). What I'll do is just make a new chart showing where guys sit about Friday of next week. I hope that makes sense. I'm glad you guys are seeing that this activity is pretty darn hard. If that doesn't show what a wizard the PC/JS connection is, then I don't know what does. This thing would have been easy as pie 4 years ago.